Report: Hilton Head man threatened with hit man if he doesn’t pay $200

A Hilton Head Island man reported he was threatened by someone who sent him photos of a body and threatened to hire a hit man to kill him.

The incident was reported Monday, but happened between Saturday and Sunday, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.

The victim told a deputy he received text messages on Saturday from a New York number he didn’t recognize. The texts included photos of a person who appeared “either shot to death, beheaded and mutilated,” the report said. The sender demanded the victim pay him $200 “or else a hit man would be coming after him.”

The victim deleted the pictures because he thought it was a prank message.

But he was contacted again the following day. This time he got a Facebook message that again asked for $200 and renewed the hit man threat.

“We have your location where you work,” the sender wrote. “All of your information, I am able to send (to my) hit man right now.”

A deputy wrote in the report that he was unable to get copies of the photos because the victim had deleted them. The account that the Facebook threats came from was under the name “Yornilis Cruz.”

The victim deleted his Facebook account. No arrests were listed in the report.

“I advised the victim this is probably a prank or scam, but to contact BCSO if he needed further assistance,” the deputy wrote.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Report: Hilton Head man threatened with hit man if he doesn’t pay $200."